The portrait we have hereafter described was obtained with some difficulty, as Mr. Reynolds refused for a long time to concede to the wishes of his friends on the subject; and the first attempt made was by a miniature-painter, who made a sketch from the garden as he sat reading by candle-light. This was not successful, and a second attempt, made as he sat at meeting, being no better, he was induced to sit to Mr. Hobday. The books shown in the background were favourites of his, and they are arranged in the order in which he regarded them. In a letter to his son, dated 8th of 12th month, 1808, he says:— “John Birtell has paid £48 4s. 7d. for the pictures, frames and cases, which should be repaid to him. I understood from S. A. it was thy wish to make thy sister a present of one of them, and in that case please to remit the amount to John Birtell; if she (S. A.) is mistaken, remit the money to J. B. nevertheless, and I will repay thee the half of it; but I insist upon one condition both from thee and thy sister: that as long as I live, the pictures be nowhere but in your bed-chambers. The first was begun without my knowledge, and indirect means used to accomplish it; at length I was candidly told it was determined to have it, and when I saw what was done, I thought it better to sit for the finishing than to have it a mere caricature; but I think it a very moderate performance at last. I was willing too, to avail myself of the opportunity, if such a one must be presented, of exhibiting my belief of Christianity as exhibited in the 5th chapter of the Romans; and my estimation of certain authors, by affixing their names to the books delineated in the back ground.” In reference to this subject (his portrait), some twelve months after, in a letter to his son, he says:— “This reminds me to mention what I intended to have mentioned before; that is, an alteration I propose to be made in the one here, and if this could be done in the others, I should like it; and which, I suppose, would be best effected by obliterating the books, and arranging them differently, according to the estimation in which their writings or character may be supposed to be held; with the addition of Kempis and Fenelon, not only for their intrinsic merits, but to show that our good opinion was not confined to our own countrymen. They would then stand thus:— “Fox and Penn. Woolman and Clarkson. Hanway and Howard. Milton and Cowper. Addison and Watts. Barclay and Locke. Sir W. Jones and Sir W. Blackstone. Kempis and Fenelon.